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Design System Adoption

A system nobody uses is a cost centre, and adoption is won by making the system the easiest path rather than by mandate.

Definition

Adoption is the degree to which teams actually use the system. It is a product problem: the system has users, and they will use it only if it is better than the alternative available to them.

Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.

On this page
  1. Definition
  2. What actually drives adoption
  3. Measuring it honestly
  4. Continue from here

What actually drives adoption

  • The system saves the team time on day one, not after a migration project.
  • Documentation answers questions faster than asking a person.
  • Accessibility is handled, which is work teams are relieved not to repeat.
  • There is a real path for the cases the system does not cover.
  • Migration is incremental, so nothing has to stop.
  • Someone answers questions quickly. Support responsiveness predicts adoption better than component count.

Measuring it honestly

  • Percentage of interface elements coming from the system, measured in code rather than estimated.
  • Number of forks and local overrides, which is the most informative single metric.
  • Time from design to shipped implementation, before and after.
  • Accessibility defects per release in adopting versus non-adopting teams.
  • Support request volume and response time.

Continue from here

Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.

Principles behind this

The reasoning this solution is an application of.

Often used with

These usually appear in the same screen or the same decision.

Practical example

A worked decision where this was the deciding factor.

Short definition

The one-paragraph version, for when that is all you need.

Related concept

Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.